Every generation is subtly different. Different parents and different environments result in new choices and unpredictable results. Not that most observers would notice. From a distance the Burning Man appears unchanged, a single constant anchor amidst a city of no constancy.

But look closer and you’ll see evidence of a tale forever evolving. Organic, rife with mutations and competing ideas. Of refinements and failures; all the messy flotsam and jetsam of natural selection, packed into a single human figure. The journey of eons – the human journey – recapitulated in a spare wooden effigy.

As Adam might say, “Consider the rib.”

The Ribs (First Man, 2007)

Originally carved by hand, the ribs were for a few brief years cut upon a CNC machine. In 2007 circumstance brought the process full circle, necessitating a quick return to traditional methods. During the rebirth – the heroic, on-playa creation of that year’s second Man – the ellipses that form the ribs were manually scribed by Red Ryan using only two screws, a length of string and mathematics. They were then hand cut by members of the Man KCrew and the DPW, as well as by the many citizens of Black Rock City who had joined us, unhesitatingly volunteering their labors to create Burning Man anew.

“All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one’s heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” – Cormac McCarthy, “The Road”

Work began today almost wordlessly. Everyone on this year’s KCrew is a veteran Man builder, and by now well familiar with the steps involved. The Greenlees – refrigerator-sized metal toolboxes – were unpacked yesterday, and the myriad tools of Man-building now stand ready, awaiting our use. Sawhorses are unpacked and assembled: two for the torso and two for each leg. (The arm horses will follow later.) The lumber that will become the Man has already been delivered and now, three long timbers are carried from it and placed across each pair of sawhorses. These beams will form the Man’s spine, and the long bones of the legs.